POWERS: SEASON ONE

Imagine a world where heroes with powers patrol the skies bringing down bad guys with their laser vision and super strength. Now imagine that same world within our own, filled with photo calls, social media accounts and merchandising and sponsorship deals. It’s a world where battles are waged at the behest of publicists in order to raise profiles, and the job of bringing down the low-level power-enhanced thugs is left squarely on the shoulders of the Powers Taskforce.

Within the ranks of this un-powered police unit is Christian Walker (Sharlto Copley), a former superhero who had his powers stripped away by the cannibalistic supervillain known only as Wolfe (Eddie Izzard). Now, reluctantly he finds himself grounded as a homicide detective within the unit, but dreams of having the power he once had to truly become the hero he always hoped he would be.

It’s this singular dream which punctuates the story as Walker discovers his old super-friend turned super-villain Johnny Royalle (Noah Taylor) isn’t as dead as he thought he was. Not only that, but the drugs that Royalle is peddling to young Powers could put Walker face to face again with Wolfe and the chance at getting his power back.

On paper this all sounds pretty good (a fact to which the successful comic book series is a testament to) but on screen it really doesn’t work well at all.

First of all, this looks cheap. At a time where series like Westworld and Game of Thrones (and to a lesser extent The CW’s hero shows) are knocking it out of the park visually, Powers falls flat time and again. Fight scenes are like slow-motion smack-downs and the special effects are largely substandard. Secondly, the writing and plotting is lazy, aimless and repetitive. Time and again you are beaten over the head with F words in an effort to prove to you how clever and grown up it is. It’s not, it’s actually hilarious. There’s a ‘dafuq!’ drinking game just waiting to happen. Finally (and perhaps most importantly) the tone just isn’t right.

Concocting the perfect blend of comic book and stark realism in order to base superheroes in the real world is an incredibly difficult genre to get right. And for all of Powers’ growling heroic voices, chest puffing and satirical cleverness, the show just can’t find its stride. It’s incredibly dark (think Heroes meets Ash vs Evil Dead) in places, while other moments are peppered with colourful heroes and teen romance.

Powers may have wanted to be the Watchmen of the small screen, but instead it’s more Ben Affleck’s Daredevil. It’s a huge shame and missed opportunity, which perhaps the inexplicable second season might be able to put right.

No extra features are included on the DVD and the episodes themselves don’t even have chapters!

POWERS: SEASON ONE / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: SHARLTO COPLEY, SUSAN HEYWARD, EDDIE IZZARD, NOAH TAYLOR, OLESYA RULIN, ADAM GODLEY, MAX FOWLER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD: SEASON TWO

After an incredibly short first season, the spin-off prequel show to everybody’s favourite televisual bloodbath is back, this time with 15 whole episodes! That’s more than double that of the first season and thankfully time for some actual character development.

Having left our core group (consisting of couple Travis and Madison, their respective kids Chris, Nick and Alicia, Daniel and his daughter Ofelia and the man with the plan – and the boat – Victor) afloat Dawn of the Dead style at the end of Season One, the story picks up where it left off and wastes no time in proving that being at sea is no safer than being on land.

As we’ve come to learn on Fear’s big brother, when it comes to the zombie apocalypse, the flesh-eating dead are often the least of the survivor’s worries and this fact is heightened considerably as our group do their best to figure out, not just what to do next, but how to act next. As the increasing few remnants of humanity scramble to find resources, transport or anything else they might need to wait out the storm, its every man for himself leading many of the crew of the ill-fated yacht to begin to question their own internal moral compass.

Of course there’s only so long that the group can hold their position at sea and before long they find themselves in a string of bad situations as they hop from one place to another seeking refuge. Their journey finally leads them south to the Mexican border where it seems that, for a time, they’ve found the safe haven they’ve been looking for. But this is Fear the Walking Dead, not Camberwick Green and they all discover (again and again) that nowhere is safe and nobody is completely trustworthy.

The fact that this second series was given a full season order surely must have felt like a blessing. What a huge shame then that they didn’t use it wisely. For the most part, the first half of the season is squandered on ‘jeopardy of the week’ scenarios as the group land in and out of trouble neatly inside of each 45-minute episode. It’s not until the season’s midpoint where the group split up that things finally manage to become interesting. With two, sometimes three concurrent stories the narrative is allowed to breathe and the characters are finally able to start gaining dimension (although not always for the better).

There’s no getting around the fact that you can’t help but feel that you’ve seen all of this before. From their time at the Mexican farm (hiding a hoard of zombified family members) to their discovery of working settlements and turf-wars, there’s plenty of ground being re-trod here. Granted the Mexican surroundings and subject of faith and the differing perceptions of what the walking dead are make things more interesting, as does the immediacy of the ‘event’ which lead to the dissension of mankind. Yet there’s only so long that this will maintain a difference between this and its more successful predecessor.

FOTWD Season Two leaves us in a much stronger position than the previous series did. Having found its leader (and its not who you might think) and turned some characters 180 degrees due to the genuinely heartbreaking moments of the penultimate episode, there’s a lot to hope for going forward. With one extra episode scheduled for Season Three, we can only hope they use them more effectively next time around.

Extra features include a short making of for each episode and the short 15-minute webisode Flight 462.

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD: SEASON TWO / CERT: 15 / CREATOR: ROBERT KIRKMAN, DAVE ERICKSON / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: CLIFF CURTIS, KIM DICKENS, FRANK DILLANE, ALYCIA DEBNAM CAREY, ELIZABETH RODRIGUEZ / RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 5TH

THE ID

Meredith (Amanda Wyss) is a woman trapped between adolescence and adulthood. Her mother having long since run away, Meredith was left to cope with her domineering, demanding father (Patrick Peduto). Her room is full of the paraphernalia from childhood and unmet promises of high school, her daily life now the grind of caring for her ailing but still intimidating dad.  Ground to a nub by her father’s daily demolishing of whatever self-confidence she still possesses, Meredith is resigned to a miserable life of servitude.

 

Until that is, a glimmer of what could have been re-enters Meredith’s small world in the form of Ted, her high school sweetheart. He’s dropping by town on business and wants to catch up and she is yearning for rebellion, maybe a way out. Daddy dearest is having none of this and ensures his daughter knows it. Already fragile from years of emotional abuse and isolation, Meredith’s psyche begins to fracture, the line between what is real and what is not blurs and that edge she was already dangerously near to is now looming closer than ever.

In some ways, it’s a woman-on-the-edge thriller like so many before. Writer Sean H. Stewart and director Thommy Hutson have tried to take this in a more complex direction, however. Meredith’s life is a crappy one that’s for sure, one ruined by contradictory men, from those that promised escape and delivered none, to that most important man in her life, her father. He’s a wretched, grotesquely misogynistic misery, simultaneously wholly dependent on her but determined to take out his revenge on her for the woman Meredith represents, her mother.

Wyss is excellent in the lead. A mess of contradictions, strength, fragility, rage and sadness it’s a great, complex performance that anchors the film, particularly so as Meredith’s sanity unravels. Peduto’s wheezing foul-mouthed monster is an able support. A miserable ogre, the pleasure he takes in manipulating, belittling and brutalising his daughter is plausibly real.

It’s arguably a little too overwrought and the score sometimes lays it on too thick. As Meredith’s inner world dissolves into paranoid fantasy The Id does start to play too much with repetitive cinematic trickery to represent her loosening grip on reality and runs the danger of simply becoming annoying. That it doesn’t, and that this sad, grim drama remains compelling to its end is down to the work of Wyss, Peduto, Stewart, and Hutson. A balance is achieved, and though it teeters much like Meredith herself on the precipice, ultimately it’s successful. With great central performances and well made, it comes recommended.

THE ID / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: THOMMY HUTSON / SCREENPLAY: SEAN H. STEWART / STARRING: AMANDA WYSS, PATRICK PEDUTO, JAMYE GRANT, MALCOLM MATTHEWS / RELEASE DATE: VOD OUT NOW

ABBEY GRACE

Stacey’s mom (no, definitely not that one, Fountains of Wayne…) has died and Stacey finds herself back home with her multiple-phobic brother Ben, doing her best to tolerate his Sleeping With the Enemy via Sheldon Cooper compulsions and rituals. Stacey’s kinda fascinated by Ben too, most notably in that he hasn’t left the house in 23 years, not even for his own beloved mother’s funeral, and since she is working towards her Phd Ben at least provides a case for her to study in between the cleaning and other domestic duties.

 

Stacey’s plans to ‘fix’ her brother are disrupted by the angry spirit of the titular young girl. An opening flashback has already alerted us to the murderous consequences of coming into contact with Abbey. When Stacey’s dog brings something of hers back to the family home, he brings with it Abbey too.

From writer and director Stephen Durham, Abbey Grace uses the entire overworked arsenal of the rural haunting film. Isolated farm-style house with a sinister history, tall oak tree outside (good for hanging folk from), spooky occurrences, spooked animals and no nearby help. It’s the sort of thing the Winchester brothers from Supernatural would probably have wrapped up in oh, say, around 40 minutes. Here Durham gives us a similar story of vengeful spirits that seeks to resolve things in a slightly less bombastic manner than Dean and Sam inevitably would.

Digital filmmaking is not a friend of the ghost story. Little Abbey might only be half-glimpsed on Ben’s CCTV at first but there’s no mystery to whether she’s there or not. Atmospheric hauntings are harder to come by in HD, it seems. It’s understandably not an expensive production and the low budget doesn’t work in its favour. The actors try hard but they’re limited, and the same goes for the script and special effects work.

Durham and co-writer Dave Dittlinger do try to give their leads some character depth to work with but you still aren’t likely to care massively about what happens to whom. Some unintentional humour and charmingly risible moments generated from all the above doesn’t help either. Familiar tropes and story points remind you of superior examples of the genre, and ones you’d prefer to watch.

Still, it’s got enough in its favour to grant Abbey Grace a compliment. Durham tries to build mood and is able to generate a few effective beats, focusing away from relying on gore and simple loud noises to earn them. Abbey Grace manages some moments but ultimately relies too much on the obvious and shorthand genre cliché, so the end result is occasionally decent, often hackneyed, and overall inoffensive and inessential.

ABBEY GRACE / CERT: TBC / DIRECTOR: STEPHEN DURHAM / SCREENPLAY: DAVID DITTLINGER, STEPHEN DURHAM / STARRING: DEBBIE SHERIDAN, JACOB HOBBS, AMBER GALLAWAY, SEMI ANTHONY / RELEASE DATE: VOD OUT NOW

CREATURE DESIGNERS: THE FRANKENSTEIN COMPLEX

How many CGI effects artists can you name? Difficult isn’t it? And yet there’s no shortage of choice – thousands of the little blighters rising five columns wide at the end of every major studio effects bonanza. Look closer at this giant list of anonymous digi-ants next time you’re sitting waiting for the second of the usual two end credit scenes on a Marvel Studios movie and you’ll see that some of these people have fairly interesting names like ‘Dirk’, ‘Sigmund’ and ‘Per’. Interesting surnames too; ‘Wang’ seems to pop up a lot. But it’s hard to actually care who did what when it takes 760 people to create one single shot.

The Frankenstein Complex is a documentary about an era of special effects when we truly knew who was who. The late ‘70s through to the early ‘90s saw directors like Spielberg, Lucas, Carpenter, and Verhoeven creating fantasy masterworks in partnership with star effects men (and yes, they were all men, but we’ll get to that) for whom simple surnames sufficed. Muren, Tippett, Winston, Baker, and Bottin delivered immortal practical creature effects using wire frames, air sacs, latex rubber and a giant vat of steaming ingenuity. You couldn’t open the pages of STARBURST back then without one of these VFX rock stars of giving us an interview or tour of their fiendish lair. Top blokes? That’s about the size of it.

As with 2012’s Special Effects Titan, their definitive look at the work of the great Ray Harryhausen, directors Gilles Penso and Alexandre Poncet strike a pleasing balance between the personalities and processes involved. As well as chatting, often quite candidly, with these legendary names (all very chipper, if less hairy these days) the documentary puts them to work demonstrating the very tactile reality of how they moulded and puppeted drawing boards into existence.

As there’s a lot of fertile ground to cover, the film wisely eschews long clips because, let’s face it, we’ve all seen The Thing, American Werewolf in London, Robocop and their brethren many times over. Instead, with the briefest of necessary clips, Penso and Poncet concern themselves with what it takes to realise such well-known aliens and robots, not just in practical terms but psychologically. It’s a fascinating avenue; the process of creature creation is playfully likened here to a form of male ‘birth’. Look at some of these meanies’ resemblance to their makers and you’ll understand why.

The shadowy spectre of CGI eventually descends but the film does an even-handed job of explaining how and why a good balance of practical and digital can the best possible solution. But it’s the pre-CGI creatures that shine brightest here. They may have been the stuff of nightmares, but they were real. This is a timely reminder of how a band of brothers created genuine works of art for the masses.

CREATURE DESIGNERS: THE FRANKENSTEIN COMPLEX / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: GILLES PENSO, ALEXANDRE PONCET / STARRING: RICK BAKER, JOE DANTE, JOHN LANDIS, GUILLERMO DEL TORO, MICK GARRIS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW


 

ROXANNE (1987)

For a decade that’s remembered chiefly for being garish, greedy and narcissistic there’s still a surprising amount of charm in many of the comedy movies from the 1980s, a good number of them featuring Steve Martin (think of The Man with Two Brains, Three Amigos! or Planes, Trains and Automobiles). Mixing in swearing, some bite, wit and sentimentality, they were big hits that people still love today.

Roxanne was Martin’s version of Edmond Rostand’s late 19th century play Cyrano de Bergerac and here he writes as well as stars. Following the broad outline of that play it features Martin as C.D. Bales, fire chief in a small town. Bales is smart, funny, a bit of an oddball and good at pretty much everything. But he also has a huge nose, and this has meant Bales has deemed himself unlovable. He can’t have surgery because he’s allergic to anaesthetic and most everyone in the town knows not to mention his schnoz anyway, so C.D. just gets on with life, convincing himself he’s happy with his lot.

That is until astronomy grad student Roxanne (Daryl Hannah) starts staying in town while she searches for a new comet. Sadly for the smitten Bales, Roxanne is attracted to new arrival firefighter Chris (Rick Rossovich) and when through rom-com hijinks she’s convinced Chris’ otherwise dim exterior hides the soul of a poet, Bales ends up helping his love rival win her over. Complications inevitably and amusingly ensue.

In the ‘80s Martin was very good at this type of gig. There weren’t many people, either as actor or writer, who do that mixture of occasionally sickly and borderline misanthropic as well as he could. Roxanne is more evidence of his skill in this. The town is a believable place, the characters all warm and lived in. Hannah is at her most winsome as the object of affection, and as an educated woman, agreeably not-too-movie-stupid despite the silliness that surrounds her. Martin as writer gives everyone a good character to work with, as demonstrated most with Chris. In someone else’s hands he’d simply be a dreadful idiot just so we could feel good about disliking him, but here Martin and Rossovich make him dumbly layered in his way, too.

Amongst the considerable good that makes up this film, it has one of Martin’s finest moments in it – the 20 nose jokes scene. It typifies everything that makes Roxanne a deserved minor classic – some edge, heart and genuine good humour goes into it. If you could criticise the film, it’s a little bit cornball at times and the required late act conflict is predictably shoehorned in, but that didn’t harm Coming to America and it’s the same here.

A sweet, funny and heartfelt film, Roxanne avoids being cloying or too much like unlikely wish fulfilment for Bales. If you like this type of film it’s a great example of whimsical romantic comedy done well.

ROXANNE (1987) / CERT: PG / DIRECTOR: FRED SCHEPISI / SCREENPLAY: STEVE MARTIN / STARRING: STEVE MARTIN, DARYL HANNAH, RICK ROSSOVICH, SHELLEY DUVALL, JOHN KAPELOS / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

BETTER CALL SAUL – SEASON TWO

No sign of anything even vaguely resembling a sophomore slump in the second ten-episode run of the effortlessly-classy and often beautifully-filmed Breaking Bad prequel. Better Call Saul is now moving out from under its parent show’s shadow and establishing its own identity but the second season actually borrows a few of Breaking Bad’s narrative tactics to add a bit of spicy edge-of-the-seat tension into what is, at times, a real slow-burn series which is clearly in no hurry to get to its endpoint.

Series Two picks up the slack from the conclusion of Series One. Our anti-hero (and future Saul Goodman) Jimmy McGill (Odenkirk), having become disillusioned with his faltering career as a legitimate lawyer, toys briefly with the idea of becoming a fly-by-night shyster again until he’s tempted back into the path of righteousness by fellow lawyer (and soon-to-be love interest) Kim Wexler (the superb Rhea Seehorn) who procures him a job with big-boy law firm Davis and Main. Here Jimmy carries on gathering evidence in the Sandpiper care home charging scandal uncovered in Season One but his over-zealousness quickly sees him falling foul of his new bosses – and putting his new relationship at risk. As the season progresses Jimmy becomes increasingly maverick and unpredictable and his determination to do the best for Kim – who he persuades to leave her lucrative position at Hamlin, Hamlin and McGill to join him in a new venture as joint sole legal practitioners – leads him into difficult situations with his brother Chuck, still battling an ongoing medical condition which leaves him ultra-sensitive to natural light and electrical power. Elsewhere Jimmy’s occasional verbal sparring partner, the taciturn Mike Ehrmantraut (Banks), drifts ever closer to the dark side as finds himself working for increasingly dodgy sleazeballs and hoodlums as he tries to earn enough money to give his daughter-in-law and granddaughter a better life. Both Jimmy and Mike – the beating hearts of the show despite an increasingly and well-deserved higher profile for Kim – stumble into situations which will be familiar to Breaking Bad fans; Jimmy twists and turns and lies and deceives in his desperation to do what he thinks is right and Mike’s path is – ironically considering the relationship he and Walter will develop – almost identical to Walter White’s as he puts his own safety and life at risk to provide for his family.

Intricate, immaculate, stunningly photographed – this is easily the best-looking show on the box, many of its set-ups are almost works of art in themselves – and its use of music is often inspired. There are at least three wonderfully-edited montage sequences which are simply breathtakingly audacious. Better Call Saul remains intelligent TV for people who like to take their time with a good story, letting it unfold languidly and at its own pace. Fans of fast-paced action and heroics will find little to engage them here but there’s drama aplenty in a wry, clever multi-layered tale that focusses on the struggles of an eternal, wilful underdog who wants to do the right thing but doesn’t really know how to go about it. This impressive and essential boxset not only boasts all ten episodes in rich, evocative high-definition but also reminds us of the potential of the Blu-ray format with its fantastically-generous selection of bonus material.

Thankfully it seems that we’re still some way from seeing Jimmy McGill transform into Saul Goodman and that’s fine by us. Take your time, guys. Roll on Season Three.

Special Features: Ten commentaries / Gag reel / Table read / Featurettes / Commercials

BETTER CALL SAUL – SEASON TWO / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: BOB ODENKIRK, JONATHAN BANKS, RHEA SEEHORN, MICHAEL MCKEAN, ED BEGLEY JNR, PATRICK FABIAN, MICHALE MANDO / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
 

UFO – THE COMPLETE SERIES

It’s 1980. Men wear comfortable button-up jumpsuits, cars have gull-wing doors, aquanauts wear string vests, and women on the moon sport fetching purple wigs. This is the future as imagined by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson in their ground-breaking 1969/70 live-action science-fiction series UFO which finally – finally – arrives on Blu-ray looking as if it was made yesterday morning. You really don’t need us to tell you that UFO is bloody fabulous, and in glorious, pin-sharp high-definition it looks bigger and better than ever.

In many ways UFO was ‘the one that got away’ in the formidable Gerry Anderson canon. Misunderstood and underappreciated at the time, its reputation has blossomed across the decades as it’s been discovered by increasingly-appreciative audiences captivated by Derek Meddings’ still-glorious special effects, its inventive storylines and, we’re big enough fans to admit it, its  occasional po-faced earnestness. This is the story of Earth in the far distant future (well, it probably seemed that way in 1969) under discrete attack by a desperate alien race from a distant, dying world. A top secret defence organisation named SHSADO – Supreme Headquarters Alien Defence Organisation – is set up and armed with an armada of space interceptors (launched from a Moonbase facility), submarines and ground-tanks to protect the Earth from these surreptitious invaders. SHADO is commanded by Ed Straker (Bishop), he of the infamous bleached-blond hairpiece, who by day poses as the head of a British film studio (in reality Elstree Studios, its exterior now home to BBC TV’s Holby City) beneath which lies SHADO’s futuristic nerve centre. Across twenty-six colourful episodes the men, women and machines of SHADO (and sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart) battle to stay ahead of the game as Earth’s frontline defence against the aliens who, for some reason, tend to come to Earth one whirling-dervish spaceship at a time.

UFO is undoubtedly charmingly-dated – as any story which attempts to posit a near-future world is bound to several decades after the event. There’s a stiffness in both the scripts and performances in many of the early episodes (which inevitably led to contemporary critics making snide cheapjack gags comparing the acting to the marionettes of the Andersons’ 1960s shows) and in truth there’s little depth to any of the lead characters with the notable exception of Ed Bishop’s Straker. Here’s a man who is driven and determined to the point of obsession, sacrificing everything in his life – his marriage, his son (in the heart-breaking ‘A Question of Priorities’) and even, perhaps, his humanity – in pursuit of his absolute dedication to his post as SHADO’s head honcho. We’re years away from the idea of TV shows with ‘story arcs’ but a handful of early UFO instalments tackle head-on the bald consequences of the single-minded obsession which has turned Straker into a cold, distant and hard-edged loner who seems more machine than man.

There’s little light and shade in UFO; many of the stories seem ponderous by today’s standards and if there’s any humour (and there’s not much) it’s creaky and laboured. But UFO is really all about those extraordinary visuals, the thunderingly-exciting Barry Gray signature music and thrilling title sequence  and an overarching scenario which can’t help but captivate and enthral enough to make even the odd seriously tedious episode like ‘Conflict’ and ‘Destruction’ worth struggling through. The first seventeen episodes were filmed at MGMN’s Borehamwood Studios but the series relocated to Pinewood after a five-month break following Borehamwood’s closure and the final nine episodes are slicker, faster-paced and even more imaginative (with some new theories postulated about the nature and physiology of the aliens and a greater subtlety in their invasion schemes) but are much more action-orientated and appear to have ditched any attempt at character development in favour of increased spectacle and a few more punch-ups.

Network have absolutely done UFO proud with this sensational new Blu-ray boxset. The episodes have been beautifully restored and they look jaw-droppingly sensational, and with a new 5.1 sound mix available they sound pretty damned good too. There’s also a slew of new bonus material. With the majority of the key behind-the-scenes and front-of-camera players no longer with us, Gerry’s son Jamie has crafted a charming, if slightly overlong, documentary, ‘From Earth to the Moon’ in which many of the show’s surviving semi-regulars (including Wanda Ventham and Ayshea Brough) and one-off guest stars share their memories of working on the series. Archive interviews, raw film material and two commentaries carried over from the previous DVD releases of the series and a frankly astonishing 600-plus page book on the making of UFO by TV historian Andrew Pixley round out a genuinely comprehensive release which finally and definitively does justice to one of the best British TV science-fiction shows of all time. It’s Gerry Anderson’s true crowning glory and you absolutely need it in your life and on your shelf.

Special Features: Documentaries / Audio commentaries / Film material / Archive audio and video material / Image galleries / Souvenir book

UFO – THE COMPLETE SERIES / CERT: 12 / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: ED BISHOP, GEORGE SEWELL, MICHAEL BILLINGTON, WANDA VENTHAM, PETER GORDENO / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

THE INCREDIBLE HULK: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

The Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno-starring The Incredible Hulk ran for five seasons between 1978 and 1982, and now the entire run of episodes have been given a HD spruce up by the guys at Fabulous Films. But is this a show that’s simply best left as a nostalgic memory, or does this release bring new live to an old favourite?

Plot-wise, we all know the drill by now. Genius scientist Bruce Banner (Bixby) is exposed to gamma radiation, resulting in him turning into the imposing, erratic Hulk (Ferrigno) whenever he gets angry. And remember, you won’t like him when he’s angry. For poor, tragic Banner, he has to pretend to be dead as he frantically tries to find a cure for his little issue of transforming into a giant green rage monster. Adding further to his problems, Bruce is regularly pursued by Jack McGee (Jack Colvin), a nosy journalist who wants to find out the truth behind who the Hulk really is.

As was par the course for shows of its time, The Incredible Hulk as a series is largely made up of one-and-done type adventures, although obviously there’s the overarching greater narrative of Banner trying to keep the Hulk at bay. That’s not to say that the show doesn’t hold your attention throughout its episodes, though, for despite there being expected filler episodes from time-to-time, there’s two constants that make each and every outing an engaging one: Bill Bixby’s Bruce Banner and Lou Ferrigno’s Hulk.

Getting the whole trauma of Banner’s battle with his hulking inner demon right is something that’s so hard to get right, but even to this day it’s Bill Bixby that’s the standard bearer when it comes to what we hope to see from the more recent big screen incarnations of the Green Goliath. To his Bruce Banner, Bixby brought a true sense of tragedy as we got to see a man battle his demons in a way that pulled at the heartstrings and brought genuine care and emotion to a series that could so easily just be all about the “Hulk Smash!” element. That’s not to say that seeing the Engine of Mass Destruction popping up to bash the bad guys and save the day at least once per episode isn’t great, and the sight of Lou Ferrigno’s Hulk is likely to reawaken many memories of afternoons spent hiding behind the sofa.

With this new release from Fabulous Films, each and every episode has been given a high-definition makeover and it’s certainly a job well done, for The Incredible Hulk has never looked or sounded – yes, that theme tune is still as memorable – any better. The effects of the show may feel a little dated to new eyes these days, but for those longing to revisit a favourite of yesteryear, this crisp new release will bring an added sense of freshness to a show that’s so fondly remembered by multiple generations.

One slight niggle with The Incredible Hulk: The Complete Collection is that there’s no major new bonus features included – the featurettes and gag reel included here have previously been attached to earlier releases – but that’s certainly not a major put-off, particularly for those who haven’t got any of the previous releases of the series. Also, it would’ve been nice to have seen the later TV movies that featured Thor (1988’s The Incredible Hulk Returns) and Daredevil (1989’s The Trial of the Incredible Hulk) – not to mention 1990’s The Death of the Incredible Hulk – included in this set as a nice extra.

As a character study, the dynamic between Bruce Banner and his alter-ego has never been better explored than during The Incredible Hulk, and even now Bill Bixby’s Banner stands up as one of the greatest examples of bringing a comic book character to life in a live-action setting. Simply put, this new release of an old favourite is smashing. Hulk smashing.

We’ll get our coat…

Special Features: Three featurettes / Audio commentary on three episodes / Two introductions / Gag reel / Photo gallery

THE INCREDIBLE HULK: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION / CERT: 12 / CREATOR: KENNETH JOHNSON / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: VARIOUS / STARRING: BILLY BIXBY, LOU FERRIGNO, JACK COLVIN, CHARLES NAPIER / RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 5TH
 

LEGO SCOOBY-DOO!: HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD

As the title suggests, LEGO Scooby-Doo!: Haunted Hollywood is the first Scooby-Doo movie made in the LEGO style.

After Scooby (Frank Welker) and Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) win a burger-eating contest, the gang are invited on a tour of Hollywood’s Brickton Studios, famous for producing classic monster movies. But when they get there, they discover the owner, Chet Brickton (James Arnold Taylor), is being forced to sell the studio because his latest features are being sabotaged by ghostly monsters. Can Scooby, Shaggy, Velma (Kate Micucci), Daphne (Grey Griffin) and Fred (Welker) solve the mystery before Brickton Studios is forced to close its doors forever?

It would be easy to dismiss this direct-to-DVD movie as just another generically bland kids movie that its target audience would find mildly diverting, but adults would find it a chore to sit through its 75 minutes running time. Fortunately LEGO Scooby-Doo!: Haunted Hollywood is actually a lot of fun as it’s clear the director Rick Morales and writer James Krieg are both fans of Scooby-Doo and classic horror movies, particularly Universal’s. The ghost that is haunting Brickton Studios is that of horror icon Boris Carnac, the Man of 999 Faces, who appeared in such fare as The Nephew of the Headless Horseman’s Curse, and is no doubt an affectionate dig at Universal’s Son of Frankenstein and Daughter of Dracula. And there’s no points for guessing who Boris Carnac is an amalgamation of. There’s also references to past Scooby-Doo series with Daphne stating that she was Miss Crystal Cove for five years running. Scooby-Doo fans will immediately get the reference to Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated. The ghosts haunting the studio are also from Scooby lore, but fortunately Scrappy-Doo seems to have been expunged from Doo history.

There’s plenty of gags too. Shaggy is asked to be the replacement for the lead on a rom-com but it goes against his counter-culture principles, and when Velma unmasks the villain she accidentally takes off their entire head. Being a Scooby-Doo movie, it follows the traditional Scooby-Doo template in that the villain and their motivations are easy to spot, but the film reference nods to adult viewers with the excellent voice work of Frank Welker and Matthew Lillard keep this production bright, breezy and fun.

This reviewer’s youngest is mad on LEGO and Scooby-Doo, so it was a winning combination for him. He’d give it 100 out of 10. A tad over generous perhaps.

LEGO SCOOBY-DOO!: HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD / CERT: U / DIRECTOR: RICK MORALES / SCREENPLAY: JAMES KRIEG / STARRING: FRANK WELKER, MATTHEW LILLARD, GREY DELISLE, KATE MICUCCI, DEE BRADLEY BAKER / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW